Pick up guide
Similar to a park map for the festivities there is an itinerary of what is going on and where – be sure to make note of all the locations of things you want to see as they could be another park.

Go visit the Expo on the Friday or as soon as the park opensI wish someone had told us this as there were lots of queues to look at the exhibits, but we did get a lot of rides done so it depends what you are more interested in. If we had planned ahead we could have done more of what was offered, including: get sorted by the Sorting hat and visit the 3D virtual reality exhibit. This gave you got a chance to explore Newt’s suitcase from Fantastic Beasts, which I’d heard was a pretty incredible experience.

Book a vacation packageCheck out all the options and what works well for your given budget, but having the lanyards to cut down the queues and getting in to the exclusive night time event was definitely a bonus. After the opening on Friday night, guests with the lanyards were able to enter back into the Wizarding lands after the park was closed. They served desserts, drinks (including butterbeer) and all the attractions were open. This meant we were able to ride the Hogwarts express as many times as we wanted and other ride the attractions with little to no wait time.

Check out your emailed itinerary once you have booked your packageIt may seem obvious but if you are given extras such as, breakfast in The Three Broomsticks or Exclusive Q&A, for a certain window of time. This won’t be listed on the main itinerary as it is invite only. I found when I asked a member of staff that none of them could help me with timings either!

Head to talks/demonstrations early for good viewing
This is a no-brainer but unless you have vacation package which gives you priority viewing areas, it is best to get in there ahead of time as it fills up fast.

Organise costumes
People go all out for the event, my favourites were a couple dressed as Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape, which were hand-made. There were also several Lunas including a few with roaring Lion heads.